David Veenstra is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover St. Mary's for AZPreps365.com

PHOENIX – Tenacious man-to-man defense and a hot start powered Saint Mary's girls basketball to a 48-26 home victory over Thunderbird on Friday night.

The 4A Skyline game that was scheduled to tip off at 7:00 p.m. didn't start until nearly 8:30 p.m., after the freshmen girls played two overtimes and the junior varsity girls played three overtimes.

The late start made all the difference as the Titans came out flat, while Saint Mary's took advantage and rushed to a 10-0 lead. 

"We had a lot of turnovers early and it led to a deficit, and we were just never able to overcome that," Thunderbird coach Barry Ringel said. "Both teams were out there waiting, and one team was aggressive and played hard and that was Saint Mary's. We played hard but we just didn't quite meld against their defense, so I give them a lot of credit."

Saint Mary's senior Alyssa Estrada started the game with a three-pointer which led to a scoring barrage for Saint Mary's, and helped the Knights take a 15-3 lead after the first quarter. Balanced scoring saw five different Knights players score in the opening period.

Thunderbird's only points in the first quarter came from a three-pointer from sophomore Grace Hall with 3:04 remaining. 

"Anytime we can start off fast like that it's a good booster both mentally and physically," Saint Mary's coach Patricia Hollerbach said, "and just to see points up on the board like that means we're playing team ball,"

In the second quarter, Saint Mary's found repeated trips to the free-throw line by attacking, which is what Hollerbach calls their "bread and butter." That aggressiveness saw Saint Mary's shoot 12 free throws in the second quarter, while Thunderbird only attempted one.

Saint Mary's junior Angelica Tewsbury shot 4-4 from the free-throw line in the second quarter. Seven of  the Knights' 16 second-quarter points came from the foul line, where the Knights shot 12 free throws. (David Veenstra / AZPreps365)

Knight freshman Cynthia Tewksbury put the Knights up 27-5 with three minutes left in the second quarter after a steal and a fast break layup, and the game appeared out of reach for Thunderbird.

However, Titan senior Kennedy Hatch answered on the other end with an and-one, and Hall made a high-arcing three to beat the halftime buzzer, which trimmed Saint Mary's lead to 31-12 at the half.

Nevertheless, the Knights started the second half in the same exact manner as the first half. Estrada nailed a three-pointer and the Knights began the second half on a 10-0 run to go up 41-12. 

Thunderbird put points on the board after senior Kacy Davis hit a three-pointer with 3:35 remaining in the third quarter, but Saint Mary's defense allowed the Knights to expand the lead to 45-17 lead after the third quarter.

"We just talk to each other so much," Estrada said regarding her team's successes on defense. "We know that we have fast people, but we also know that we rely on each other, so me and Cynthia were working back-and-back switches and just talking and communicating and it worked really well tonight."

A 28-point lead entering the fourth quarter allowed Hollerbach to give the seniors on her bench more minutes.

"We always want to try and do our seniors right so any time it allows for that we're always gonna try and get the seniors playing time and they deserve it," Hollerbach said. "It's their senior year so it does affect the rotation a lot because we usually play one to two seniors, but we have five on the team, so I definitely wanted to play all of them."

Saint Mary's only points in the fourth quarter came from a three-pointer from Estrada, who finished with 13 points.

St. Mary's senior Alyssa Estrada drives to the basket late in the fourth quarter during a 48-26 home victory over Thunderbird. Estrada scored 13 points, including three 3-pointers. (David Veenstra / AZPreps365)

"I know I'm a shooter, but I just don't want to shoot for some reason," Estrada said, adding that her teammates "hyped her up" and gave her the confidence to shoot. "They said, 'Alyssa, we know you can shoot you just gotta believe in yourself.'"

Saint Mary's (7-10) closes out the regular season at home against Moon Valley (0-12) at 7 p.m. on Monday night. Thunderbird (10-7) will host Greenway (11-4) at 7:30 p.m. on Monday for its senior night. 

"We just gotta finish strong," Hollerbach said. "We know that we can't drop a game especially when we're playing someone that's ranked below us."